PALO ALTO, Calif. – The 12^th-ranked UC Irvine men's water polo team split a pair of games on the second day of the MPSF Invite. The Anteaters topped No. 18 San Jose State, 8-7, in the first game of the day before dropping a tough 11-10 decision to No. 11 UC San Diego.
 
UCI falls to 6-9 on the season and 1-2 at the invite.
 
UC Irvine 8, San Jose State 7
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Jon Polos and Zlatan Nikocevic led UCI with two goals apiece
> Casey Lynton, Jason Evezard, Jack Trush and Jack Baumgardner finished with one goal each
> Byron Rivers made nine saves in goal
> Cade Baldridge led SJSU with two goals
> Yahav Fire finished with nine saves in the cage
 
TURNING POINTS
> Polos got the 'Eaters on the board first, scoring just one minute into the game before the Spartans answered to knot the game, 1-1, after the first frame
> UCI scored three-straight goals in the second quarter to take a 4-1 lead with 5:00 left to play before half time
> SJSU notched a goal late in the second quarter to make it 4-2 at the half
> The Anteaters extended their lead, 6-2, after scoring back-to-back to open-up the third quarter
> The Spartans answered with two-straight goals to close the gap, 6-4, after the third frame
> Lynton scored for UCI to open-up the fourth quarter to make it, 7-4, before SJSU made back-to-back goals to bring the game within one, 7-6, with 5:42 to play
> Evezard fired in a goal at the five-minute mark as UCI held on to a two-point lead, 8-6, until the Spartans scored in the final 30 seconds. SJSU tried to find the equalizer as time expired but the Anteaters held on and win, 8-7
 
UC San Diego 11, UC Irvine 10
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Casey Lynton had a hat trick, scoring a team-best three goals
> Lazar Manjlovic and Jared Gornay finished with two goals each while Jason Evezard, Jon Polos and Ian Fleenor had one apiece
> Byron Rivers made eight saves in goal
> UCI won three out of four sprints
> Skylar Munatones led UCSD with three goals
> Jack Turner had seven stops in goal for the Tritons
 
TURNING POINTS
 > UCSD jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead after the first quarter
> The Tritons scored three goals before Polos put UCI on the board with a goal at 1:58 in the first quarter
> The Anteater offense ignited in the second quarter scoring three-straight to bring the game within one, 5-4, with 4:40 to play in the frame
> UCSD closed out the second quarter with two goals to make it, 7-4, at the half
> Lynton notched back-to-back goals to open the third quarter and bring the 'Eaters within one, 7-6, with 3:25 to play
> The Tritons added a later goal in the third frame to take a two-goal lead, 8-6, into the fourth quarter
> The teams exchanged back-and-forth goals in the final frame as UCSD held a slight 10-8 edge with 4:00 minutes to play
> Gornay scored with 3:54 sowing on the clock to make it 10-9 but the Tritons would tally the final goal to seal the 11-9 victory
 
NOTES
> UCI is 1-2 against UCSD this season
> The Anteaters are 1-0 against SJSU in 2018
> Jason Evezard extended his streak of scoring at least one goal in every game this season
> Lynton notched his second hat trick of the season and his career
 
UP NEXT
> UCI plays Loyola Marymount Sunday, Oct. 14^th at 1:00 p.m. at the Belardi Pool